Yanks ace Gerrit Cole gives up right to opt out, stays with New York rather than become free agent

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Gerrit Cole gave up his opt-out right on Monday and will remain with the New York Yankees under a contract that runs through 2028 rather than become a free agent.

New York's ace initially exercised his right to terminate the $324 million, nine-year deal, which has $144 million and four years remaining. That decision triggered a two-day window for the Yankees to add a $36 million salary for 2029, which would void the opt out.

Given the short time frame after the team's World Series-ending loss Wednesday night, both sides extended the bargaining period until 5 p.m. EST Monday, the deadline for option decisions in the collective bargaining agreement. As the deadline approached, both sides agreed to rescind their rights and worked out the language with Major League Baseball and the players' association.

“Maybe the grass isn't always greener,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “I think he’s happy where he's at. I think he likes our setup. I think he likes playing for who he’s playing for and working for. And I think he likes his teammates. And I think he thinks we have a legitimate chance to win.”

Cashman said the talks included himself, Cole, agent Scott Boras, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and team president Randy Levine.

“Gerrit and Hal have built a close relationship, and remaining a Yankee was important to both,” Boras said in an email to The Associated Press. “All understood further time was needed to advance discussions.”

Cashman said Cole's "career hopefully will finish with the Yankees. Whether that’s at the end of this contract or anything in the future, we can still talk through that. But the most important thing is, the biggest first step is we have our ace back and we’re excited about that.”

A 34-year-old right-hander, Cole won the 2023 AL Cy Young Award. His 2024 season didn’t start until June 19 because of nerve irritation and edema in his right elbow. The six-time All-Star went 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA in 17 starts, and then was 1-0 with a 2.17 ERA in five postseason starts.

Cashman said Cole didn't need any medical procedures and New York hopes he is healthy.

“But how many pitchers are, right?” Cashman said. “I’ll go through the free agent meetings and I’ll go through all the players in the marketplace that are over a certain age and they’re all going to have their warts and some pitch with them and some can’t pitch with them. But he's obviously made us feel really good about how he came back.”

Cole's decision gives the Yankees six potential rotation returnees, a group that includes Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Gil, Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman.

In addition, the Yankees made a $21.05 million qualifying offer to outfielder Juan Soto, who is certain to reject it, but did not make one to second baseman Gleyber Torres. New York would not get draft-pick compensation if Torres signs elsewhere.

Cashman said the club is not averse to including deferred compensation in contracts. Yankees deals have generally not included that.

“We’re open to deferrals,” he said. “A lot of times players are less open to doing deferrals for us than they are for maybe other markets. But if we can do stuff that benefits us, of course we will.”

Cashman spoke to reporters for the first time since the Yankees wasted a five-run, fifth-inning lead against the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series, when center fielder Aaron Judge and Gold Glove shortstop Anthony Volpe made errors and Cole didn't cover first base on a pivotal play.

“This team obviously wasn’t the best defensive team that we’ve had, clearly. And this team also had obviously made some baserunning mistakes, but obviously the Game 5 situation was involving players that ultimately are really, really good," Cashman said. “Aaron Judge catches a flyball a billion times out of a billion.

“The Dodgers won the World Series and I congratulate them,” he added. “I wish we gave them our best shot but you only have a small window to do that. We earned the right to get there but we didn’t play our best baseball while there and we got sent home.”

Also on Monday, the Yankees traded outfielder Taylor Trammell to Houston for cash. The 27-year-old was 1 for 1 with a walk in five games with New York this year and 0 for 6 in five games with the Dodgers. The Yankees claimed him off waivers in mid-April and he hit .256 with 18 homers, 63 RBIs and 20 stolen bases for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. New York also assigned outfielder Duke Ellis outright to the RailRiders.

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